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Sulphur Mines Investigation
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This page was updated 02/09/2026 at 6:56:21 PM.
Compliance Orders issued by C&E
The following orders have been issued to Westlake since the start of the investigation:
Compliance Order No. IMD 2022-027
issued April 25, 2022
Directive
- Westlake (formerly Eagle) was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $65,000 for failure to give a 24-hour notice and 5-day summary for the loss of mechanical integrity in PPG 6 and 7 on December 28, 2021.
First Supplement to Compliance Order No. IMD 2022-027
issued January 19, 2023
Directives
- Submit a plan to investigate any impacts to the Underground Source of Drinking Water ("USDW") and surrounding surface waters;
- Submit safety and emergency response plans including but not limited to incident procedures for timely verbal and written notification to all adjacent and potentially impacted landowners, dome operators and applicable local, state and federal agencies;
- Submit a plan to conduct a geomechanical analysis of the salt dome;
- Submit a plan to generate a failure analysis report in the event of cavern destabilization;
- Submit a plan to acquire, process, and evaluate 3D seismic data covering the area of investigation; and
- Submit a plan to install microseismic monitoring in and about the area of investigation including early detection and advance warning notification system.
Second Supplement to Compliance Order No. IMD 2022-027
issued April 18, 2023
Directives
- Submit a USDW report, which evaluates and better defines the depth to the top of the USDW over and around the salt dome, and includes an assessment of hypothetical events that could affect groundwater quality;
- A plan to install a minimum of three (3) monitoring wells in and about the area of investigation. The monitoring wells must be screened to monitor the deepest monitorable sand within the USDW;
- Request acesss from Yellow Rock and collect representable hydrocarbon samples from two producing wells, Serial Nos. 209459 and 185997. Additionally, Eagle (Westlake) must perform an isotopic and constituent analysis on these samples and compare them to similar analyses used for the oil collected from previous oil sampling efforts. Eagle must expeditiously perform constituent sample analysis on all collected samples;
Third Supplement to Compliance Order No. IMD 2022-027
issued October 25, 2023
Directive
- Until further notice, submit daily reports of all measurable seismic events, including magnitude and 3D location information;
- Collect a brine sample from brine to be injected into PPG 7 and analyze hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen stable isotopes;
- Identify the potential path(s) of migration for liquids from within PPG 6 and 7 to the outside of the salt stock;
- Submit all available historical sonar data prior to 1993 for caverns PPG 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7;
- Expand the subsidence area of interest in InSAR reports to incorporate all Westlake caverns;
- Submit a plan to sample and monitor all residential and domestic water wells within 2 miles of the wellhead of PPG 7B;
- Submit a plan to install tiltmeters on all accessible Westlake cavern wellheads by the end of the calendar year 2023, including specificaitons of the tiltmeters used and a data reporting schedule;
- Submit an for Westlake's facility at the Sulphur Mines Salt Dome;area-wide decommissioning plan;
- Submit an itemized delineation with a map of all existing infrastructure and utilities located at Westlake's Sulphur Mines Salt Dome facility;
- Submit a feasilbility study for the incorporation of thermography cameras (forward-looking infrared cameras or other comparable devices) into daily observational scope;
- Submit a plan to construct a containment structure around the potential affected area at the surface;
- Submit a plan to collect and sample gas over known or suspected bubble sites or sites where gas is present using a gas cap or other mechanical capturing device;
- Install metering devices for each groundwater extraction well to measure rates and volumes of freshwater withdrawal on a per-well basis;
- Submit an assessment for the use of an alternate source of freshwater, such as surface water, in lieu of withdrawing from the Chicot Aquifer for Westlake's operations at its Sulphur Mines Salt Dome cavern facility;
- Submit a plan for back-filling for cavern stability;
- Install artificial reflectors in areas of poor satellite point coverage within the boundary of the InSAR survey area;
- Submit a plan to protect and/or remediate the public freshwater supplied by the Chicot Aquifer in the event of the introduction of constituents of concern into the aquifer sands
- Submit all laboratory analyses and reports of field samples within 48 hours of receipt
- Install the proposed monitor wells in accordance with the revised and approved monitor well installation submitted in response to the Second Supplement to Compliance Order No. IMD 2022-027
issued June 12, 2024
- Order requiring the expedited construction of a containment berm around the Sulphur Mines Salt Dome
Domewide:
Order No. EMERG 970-1 - Issued September 27, 2023
Governoring Rules and Regulations
The Office of Conservation rules are contained in Title 43 of the Louisiana Administrative Code. Shown below are the rules which govern the injection and disposal wells and commercial facilities regulated by the Office of Conservation, Injection and Mining Division.
Title 43
Natural Resources
Part XVII Injection and Mining
Relevant sections:
- Subpart 3: Statewide Order No. 29-M (Hydrocarbon Storage Wells in Salt Dome Cavities)
- Subpart 5: Statewide Order No. 29-M-3 (Class III (Solution-Mining) Injection Wells)